i4x4nMore

Grow little guys... grow.

Visitor Messages

I am starting a new, hopefully planted 36x18x17 tank for my 4 goldfish. I saw your post about hanging cfls and the importance of height. I know the experiment was done with a 3-5 gallon tank...BUT can this translate to a 50 gallon or so breeder? On one slide , I tried to attach it...we'll see lol...anyways, I noticed that the light is positioned vertically 11in above the water. That means there is an additional 7.3in to the bottom of the tank from there, correct? Does this mean I can assume if the light was sitting on top of the 50gal, it would be roughly 18in and my 17in tall tank would be close to the low light range? Or does it change completely with the addition of water instead of air space? Any cfl help would be lovely! I have been battling on how many 23w bulbs to use, and if they would be enough. Also, my goal is to have a low-med light low-tech tank, if that helps narrow down tips to give.

You have wonderful posts that are incredibly well thought out and helpful. I love how you actually apply science (I am a scientist) and draw conclusions from data. This is very helpful when trying to adapt your measurements to a new setup!

Hi i4X4,
I only just saw your message; I never look at my visitor page, I don't use it.

Thanks for your offer! That's very kind of you! I went ahead and took out the reflector and painted over the shiny metal surface with white spray paint to cut down on the light. I have heard that AH Supply lights are very strong so I am hoping that this will serve to reduce the light a little. I just want this to be a slow grow, low tech tank. If this doesn't fix the problem maybe I'll PM you see if you can sort out what's going on, if that's alright. Thanks again for your offer, I'm sorry I didn't see your message before or I would've taken you up on it.